Will Herrington, Campus Carrier staff writer
In order to understand why the Friday the 13th series is as good as it is, it’s important to understand what movies are part of the officially connected story and what really isn’t.
There are 12 movies in total, with only 11 of these films being considered a part of the original “Friday the 13th” story. The 12th film in the franchise is “Friday the 13th” (2009), a remake of the original film. Of the 11 movies there are parts one through eight, “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday” (1993) which is considered part nine, “Jason X” (2002) and finally “Freddy vs. Jason” (2003). Despite being a crossover “Freddy Vs. Jason” is part of the original story, due to Freddy dragging Jason’s mask to hell in part nine. Most fans consider the best in the series to be “Friday the 13th” (1980) “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982) “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” (1984) also known as part 4 and “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives” (1986).
When the movies originally came out in the 1980s, they were actually hated by most critics. They saw them as trashy, overly violent slasher movies with no real story or direction. Admittedly some of the movies didn’t have the best characters and the story was generally the same throughout most of the movies. Jason goes around, kills several people, and is eventually stopped by either a final girl or in parts three through six by Tommy Jarvis, the man considered to be Jason’s nemesis.
But despite crticism, people loved the movies and they kept making more. To most people, the movie was all about seeing Jason and who out of the group of teens he would get next. They were simple and easy to make and a new one would come out almost every year in the 80s. Most of the characters were bland stereotypical clichés of 80s teenagers. This unintentionally made the characters relatable to younger audiences at the time, which just helped make the movies even more popular.
Even the people who haven’t seen the movies at least know who Jason is, which has made him a general pop culture icon. When most people picture a stereotypical slasher character, they usually think of some man wearing a hockey mask resembling Jason. Jason has a generally terrifying presence throughout the movies, being this gigantic, nearly unstoppable man normally wielding a machete. He is always terrorizing people at or near Crystal Lake. The audience always knows if he’s near with his iconic “Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma” sound, which, contrary to popular belief, is actually “Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma” not “Ch Ch Ch Ha Ha Ha.”
However, it should at least be important to mention that Jason wasn’t the only killer in the “Friday the 13th” series. In part one the killer was Jason’s mother, wanting to get revenge on the camp for causing her son, Jason, to drown in Crystal Lake. In part five the killer was only someone pretending to be Jason wanting revenge on a group of teens for killing his son. Despite not releasing a film in over a decade, “Friday the 13th” has left a legacy in horror, the movie genre, and is the best horror franchise.